Zomba gunshot victim sends SOS

What started as a normal day for 28-year-old Frank Eliya, turned horrible on the night of 10th April 2010 for the Sadzi Township resident when he sustained injuries after armed robbers shot at him in a foiled theft attempt on a nearby grocery.

Eliya still lives with the bullets fragment on his left side of the chest and currently seeks medical attention outside the country from well-wishers.

He and two other friends played the role of a good citizen when they heard shouts of help from neighbours that thieves have descended on a shop in their area.

Gun shot survivor

“I and my two colleagues heard calls for help and rushed to the scene. It was around 11pm when the armed robbers sensed danger and one of them was ordered to shoot at us. I was in front and met my fate when one of them shot me on the left side of my chest and fell down in pain,” said Eliya.

He further explained that he was immediately rushed to the Zomba Central Hospital after getting a police report from the then officer-in-charge at Zomba Police Station.

Eliya said identity of the rifle used has been kept secret by the police who arrested the suspected robbers and released them on bail a week later.

The victim takes pain relievers but fears that intensive taking on the same could have negative effects when he falls sick.

A recent medical report dated 12th November 2013 shows that Eliya was admitted to the hospital on 10th April and was discharged on 20th April 2010.

Reads the medical report in part: “The X-ray taken shows bullets fragment on the left auxiliary region. We did not attempt to remove these bullets with the idea that the surgery could cause more damage to the tissues than leaving it there. We hope successful operation of removing the bullets could be done under image intensifier of which we
don’t have now.

“To us we feel we cannot operate without this important instrument; hence he can seek treatment anywhere where they can manage to do it.”

Eliya is a bread winner and has a wife but complains of having on and off pains on his left hand which disturbs him from earning his living.

He comes from Dawati Village, Senior Chief Chikowi in Malawi’s Eastern Region district of Zomba and can be contacted on +265882801521 for assistance.